Taxol and its structural analogs have been recognized as the most potent and commercially successful anticancer drugs introduced in the last decade.1 Taxol was first isolated from the bark of the Pacific Yew tree,2 and early stage production methods required sacrificing two to four fully grown trees to supply sufficient dosage for one patient.3 Taxol's structural complexity necessitated a complex chemical synthesis route requiring 35-51 steps with highest yield of 0.4%.4, 5, 6 However, a semi-synthetic route was devised whereby the biosynthetic intermediate baccatin III was first isolated from plant sources and was subsequently converted to Taxol.7 While this approach and subsequent plant cell culture-based production efforts have decreased the need for harvesting the yew tree, production still depends on plant-based processes8 with accompanying limitations of productivity and scalability, and constraints on the number of Taxol derivatives that can be synthesized in search for more efficacious drugs.9, 10 